1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a robot control device, a robot control method, and a storage medium, and, more particularly, to a robot control device and a robot control method for controlling a robot with which an individual enjoys a training process like training an actual pet, such as a dog or cat, and to a storage medium for storing a software program for the robot control method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Commercially available are a number of (stuffed) toy robots which act in response to the pressing of a touch switch or a voice of an individual having an intensity above a predetermined level. In the context of the present invention, the toy robots include stuffed toy robots.
In such conventional robots, the relationship between the pressing of the touch switch or the input of the voice and the action (behavior) of the robot is fixed, and a user cannot modify the behavior of the robot to the user""s preference. The robot merely repeats the same action for several times, and the user may grow tired of the toy. The user thus cannot enjoy a learning process of the robot in the same way as a dog or cat may learn tricks.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a robot which offers substantial entertainment value.
An aspect of the present invention relates to a robot control device for controlling the action of a robot, and includes a voice recognition unit for recognizing a voice, a control unit for controlling a drive unit that drives the robot for action, and a setting unit for setting an association between the voice recognition result provided by the voice recognition unit and the behavior of the robot.
The control unit may decide an action for the robot to take, and controls the drive unit to drive the robot to perform the decided action, wherein the setting unit sets an association between the decided action and the voice recognition result immediately subsequent to the decided action taken by the robot.
The robot control device preferably includes an assessment unit for assessing a voice recognition result obtained subsequent to the first voice recognition result provided by the voice recognition unit, wherein the control unit controls the drive unit to drive the robot to perform a predetermined action in response to the first voice recognition result, and wherein the setting unit sets an association between the predetermined action and the first voice recognition result in accordance with the assessment result of the next voice recognition result.
The setting unit preferably registers an association between the voice recognition result and the action of the robot in an association table that associates a word, which the voice recognition unit receives for voice recognition, with the action of the robot.
When the voice recognition result provided by the voice recognition unit indicates that the word is an unknown one, the setting unit preferably registers the unknown word in the association table, and preferably registers an association between the registered unknown word and the action of the robot.
Preferably, the robot control device further includes a posture detector for detecting a posture of the robot, wherein the setting unit sets an association between the voice recognition result of the voice recognition unit and an action which the robot needs to take to reach the posture detected by the posture detector.
Preferably, the control unit controls the drive unit in accordance with the association set between the action of the robot and the voice recognition result of the voice recognition unit.
Another aspect of the present invention relates to a robot control method for controlling the action of a robot, and includes a voice recognition step of recognizing a voice, a control step of controlling a drive unit that drives the robot for action, and a setting step of setting an association between the voice recognition result provided in the voice recognition step and the action of the robot.
Yet another aspect of the present invention relates to a storage medium for storing a computer-executable code for controlling the action of a robot, and the computer-executable code performs a voice recognition step of recognizing a voice, a control step of controlling drive unit that drives the robot for action, and a setting step of setting an association between the voice recognition result provided in the voice recognition step and the action of the robot.
In accordance with the present invention, the drive unit is control to drive the robot for action while the voice is being recognized, and an association is set between the voice recognition result and the behavior of the robot.